New Rochelle ZBA pauses review of Cadillac Drive lot variance after residents raise rock‑removal, radon and drainage concerns

The New Rochelle Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday deferred action and closed public comment on a request to allow construction on a substandard lot on Cadillac Drive after extended public testimony raising health, drainage and structural concerns.

The applicant, represented by architect John Woodruff, requested a lot‑area variance for a vacant parcel shown on the city survey as about 12,061 square feet where 15,000 square feet is required. Woodruff said the lot was part of a 1968 subdivision and that the proposed build would disturb only a small portion of a rock outcrop by the front porch area. He described a proposed two‑car garage, driveway and a roughly 3,500‑square‑foot house as an illustrative design and said two neighboring houses already sit partly on the same rock formation.

Neighbors and nearby homeowners told the board they opposed the variance. Speakers cited sustained jackhammering and rock‑chipping, possible vibration damage to 50‑year‑old foundations and utilities, airborne dust and radon release, and altered surface water flows that could increase flooding to lower‑lying yards. Several residents pressed the board to require geotechnical and environmental…